Largest verdicts in South Dakota
5 independently-sourced personal-injury results from South Dakota firms, largest first. Each links to the full story — the firm, the attorneys, and the record behind the number.
A federal judge awarded $41.6 million to two young victims after a Flandreau Sioux Tribe police chief initiated a reckless, policy-violating pursuit at speeds exceeding 100 mph on gravel roads in Moody County, South Dakota, leaving one teenager with a permanent traumatic brain injury.
A federal jury awarded $1.1 million to a pretrial detainee who was sexually assaulted three times by a corrections officer at Pennington County Jail.
A federal jury in Sioux Falls awarded $1 million to a patient whose doctor failed to diagnose a post-surgical site infection, ending a streak of roughly 20 consecutive defense verdicts in South Dakota medical malpractice cases.
In Hamer v. Duffy, 2026 SD 4, the South Dakota Supreme Court ruled unanimously that violations of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations adopted into state law can constitute negligence per se, reversing a zero-damages jury verdict and remanding for a new trial.
Scott Abdallah obtained a pre-trial settlement against Deerfield Hutterian Brethren Colony on behalf of the family of Vannah Decker, a 15-year-old killed when a 17-year-old colony member drove an unlicensed, alcohol-impaired joyride at nearly 100 mph in a colony-owned vehicle.